REVIEW OF

RELATED LITERATURE

Related literature of the present study is presented in this chapter

under the following heads:

1. THEORETICAL OVERVIEW OF THINKING STYLES

2. THEORETICAL OVERVIEW OF SCHOOL ADJUSTMENT

3. REVIEW OF RELATED STUDIES

1. Studies related to Thinking Styles

2. Studies related to School Adjustment

3. Studies related to Different Types of Styles and Adjustment

2.1 THEORETICAL OVERVIEW OF THINKING STYLES

Interest in the notion of styles developed when the conventional

ability tests provide only partial answer for the question why people differ in

their performance. Personality differences influences the performance of

people in all fields they engage. But personality is not the entire answer. So

an interface between ability and personality was needed. The concepts of

emotional intelligence, social intelligence etc. are resulted from this need.

The notion of styles is also an outcome of the need to explain the individual

differences in performance.

According to Webster‟s new world dictionary, a style is “a distinctive

or characteristic manner… or method of acting or performing”. Royce (1973)

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viewed styles as consistent modes of cognitive and effective processing

which influence the way cognitive abilities and affective traits are related to

individual behaviour. Styles are seen as higher order traits: they influence the

way single traits are related to behaviour.

A style is a preferred way of thinking or performing. It is not an

ability, but rather a preferred way of using the ability one has. An ability

refer to how well one can do something. A style refer to how some one likes

to do something. Constructs of social, practical and emotional intelligence or

multiple intelligence expand our notion of what people can do. The construct

of style expand our notion of what people prefer to do; how they capitalize

the abilities they have. Sternberg et. al. (1997) argue that thinking styles are

important as or more important than abilities no matter how broadly abilities

are defined. How people prefer to think might be just as important or more

important than how well they think.

People do not have a style, but rather a profile of styles. They show

varying amount of each style but are not locked into any one profile. People

may be particularly identical in their abilities and yet have very different

styles. Styles can be varied to different tasks and situations. Styles are not

fixed but fluid. Various styles are not good or bad but only different.

Psychologists attempted to integrate to and extend the fragmented

research results displayed in various theories of styles. They tried to combine

several mini-theories of intellectual functioning, learning and personality and

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explained the ways in which people perceive and understand the world

around them and how they then translate that perception of the external world

into an internal representation within their minds. Sternberg (1997)

introduced a theory of mental self-government to combine the various

cognitive, learning and personality styles.

Mental Self-Government Theory of Thinking Styles-Robert. J.

Sternberg (1997)

Mental self-government theory of thinking styles was first introduced

by Sternberg et al in 1988. He and his associates developed this in to a

comprehensive theory of thinking styles by further studies and investigations.

The theory uses the government metaphor to explain how intelligence and

personality characteristics are organized and directed. Like governments,

individuals are characterized on the basis of observation of their preferred

functions, forms of organization, levels they function at, scope and leanings.

The basic idea behind the theory of mental self-government is that the

forms of government people have in the world are not coincidental. Rather

they are external reflections of what goes on in people‟s minds. They

represent alternative ways of organizing and thinking. Thus the forms of

government people see are mirrors of their minds. There are a number of

parallels between the organization of the individual and organization of the

society. Just as society needs to govern itself, people need to govern

themselves. People need to decide on priorities as does a government. People

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need to be responsive to changes in the world, as does a government. And

just as there are obstacles to change in government, so are there obstacles to

change within the people.

Thirteen different dimensions of thinking styles were identified under

five categories in this theory. In analogy to governments, people carry out

legislative, executive and judicial functions. Some individuals prefer to

follow rules and existing methods (executive style). Others enjoy creating and

formulating their own rules (legislative style). While still others like to judge

and evaluate rules, ways, ideas and procedures (judicial style). Government

govern themselves according to one of the following four types of

government: oligarchic, monarchic, hierarchic and anarchic. Applied to

mental self-government, these four styles concern the way a person organizes

information processing. Individuals with a monarchic style prefer to focus on

one goal at the time and address the next goal when the first goal is

completed. Individuals with an oligarchic or hierarchic style like to deal with

multiple goals. The former individuals have difficulty in assigning priorities

to the various goals, thus creating conflict and tension. The latter have a good

sense of priority. They prefer to work systematically. Individuals with an

anarchic thinking style tend to be motivated by a wide range of needs and

goals and are flexible in their approach. However, they have difficulty setting

priorities since they have no firm set of rules.

Governments also operate at different levels, such as the global or the

local level, and are therefore more concerned with either general or specific

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policy making. In analogy, individuals with a global thinking style prefer

general, abstract reasoning, pondering in the world of ideas, whereas

individuals with a local thinking style are more down to earth and oriented

towards the pragmatics of the situation. Governments also differ in scope

dealing primarily with internal and external issues. Likewise, individuals

with an internal thinking style differ from individuals with an external

thinking style, preferring to work independently from others. They are more

introverted and less socially sensitive than persons with an external style.

Finally, governments have a preference for liberal or conservative style and

so have individuals. Those with a liberal thinking style give preference to

tasks and projects and allow them to cover unexplored ground. They seek

rather than avoid ambiguous and uncertain stimuli. In contrast, individuals

with a conservative thinking style prefer familiar, non-threatening situations.

Together, these thirteen thinking styles can characterize individuals to a

greater or lesser extent.

Categories and dimensions of Thinking Styles in the mental self-

government theory of Thinking Styles is presented in Figure 1.

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24

An overview of the mental self-government theory of thinking styles

is given here.

Functions of Mental Self-Government

Roughly speaking, governments serve three functions- Executive:

Legislative and Judicial. The executive branch carried out the initiatives,

policies, and laws enacted by the legislative branch, and the judicial branch

evaluates whether the laws are being carried out correctly and if there are

violations of these laws. People also need to perform these functions in their

own thinking and working.

Legislative people like to come up with their own ways of doing

things and prefer to decide for themselves what they will do and how they

will do it. Legislative people like to create their own rules, and prefer

problems that are not prestructured or prefabricated. Some of the preferred

kinds of activities of a legislative stylist are writing creative papers,

designing innovative projects, creating new business or educational systems,

and inventing new things. Some of the kinds of occupations they prefer, all

of which let them exercise their legislative bent, are creative writer, scientist,

artist, sculptor, investment banker, policy maker, and architect.

The legislative style is particularly conducive to creativity, because

creative people need not only the ability to come up with new ideas, but also

the desire to. Unfortunately, school environments do not often reward the

legislative style. Indeed, even the training for occupations that require people

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to be creative often discourages the legislative style. Thus, a person might

find him – or herself in a science course, required to memorize facts,

formulas, and charts. Yet scientists almost never have to memorize anything:

if they don‟t remember something, they look it up on their bookshelf.

Creative writers also need a legislative style, but a legislative style is

not often encouraged, and is often discouraged in literature classes, where the

emphasis in the lower grades is likely to be on comprehension and in the

upper grades on criticism and analysis.

Executive people like to follow rules and prefer problems that are

prestructured or prefabricated. They like to fill in the gaps within existing

structures rather than to create the structures themselves. Some of the kinds

of activities they are likely to prefer are solving given mathematical

problems, applying rules to problems, giving talks or lessons based on other

people‟s ideas and enforcing rules. Some occupations that can be a good fit

to executive thinkers are certain types of lawyer, police officer on patrol,

builder of other people‟s designs, solider, proselytizer for other people‟s

systems, and administrative assistant.

The executive style tends to be valued both in school and in business,

because executive stylists do what they are told, and often do it cheerfully.

They follow directions and order, and evaluate themselves in the same way

the system is likely to evaluate them, namely, in terms of how well they do

what they are told. Thus, a gifted child with an executive style is likely to do

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well in school, whereas a gifted child with a legislative style is more likely to

be viewed as nonconforming and even rebellious.

Peer-group pressure encourages children to adopt an executive style as

well, but with respect to the norms of the peer group rather than of the

school. Thus, pressure from many sources can be lead students to adopt this

style.

Judicial people like to evaluate rules and procedures, and prefer

problems in which one analyses and evaluates existing things and ideas. The

judicial stylist likes activities such as writing critiques, giving opinions,

judging people and their work, and evaluating programs. Some of their

preferred kinds of occupations are judge, critic, program evaluator,

consultant, admission officer, grant and contract monitor and systems

analyst.

Schools often shortchange the judicial style. Although the work of a

historian, for example, is in large part judicial-the analysis of historical

events-many children get the idea that the work is largely executive-

remembering data of events. As in science, therefore, some of the ablest

students may decide to pursue some other field, even though the style of

thinking may be well suited not to their preparation for the career, but to the

actual career itself.

Problems of mismatching are not limited to the school. In many

business, including schools, lower-level managers are sought who have a

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largely executive style. They do what they are told, and try to do it well.

People with such a style are often then promoted into the higher levels of

management. The problem is that in the higher levels, a more legislative or

judicial style also becomes desirable. But many of the people with a more

legislative or judicial style may well have been derailed early in their

management careers, so that they never get to the higher levels of

management. People may be promoted to higher positions for which their

styles are not suited.

The Forms of Mental Self-Government

The theory of mental self-government specifies four forms:

monarchic, hierarchic, oligarchic, and anarchic. Each form results in a

different way of approaching the world and its problems.

A monarchic person is someone who is single-minded and driven.

The individual tends not to let anything get in the way of his or her solving a

problem. Monarchic people can be counted on to get a thing done, given that

they have set their mind to it.

Monarchic bosses often expect tasks to be done, without excuses or

extenuating circumstances. When you get married to a monarchic individual,

you usually find it out quickly. You may see little of the person, and when

you do see the person, his or her mind may be elsewhere. If you, rather than

say, work, are the subject of a monarchic spouse‟s obsession, you may find

yourself receiving more attention than you expected.

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Monarchic children often encounter a problem in school: They usually

want to be doing something other than what they are doing and are like to be

thinking about the other thing while they are supposed to be attending to the

teacher. Sometimes, their interests are best served when a teacher (or parent)

brings whatever they are monarchic about to bear on other things they are

doing. For example, child who has a strong interest in sports but is not a

reader may become a reader if given sports novels to read. A child who loves

cooking but not math could be given math problems to do that involve

recipes. In these manner the child may become interested in things that

previously are of no interest.

The hierarchic person has a hierarchy of goals and recognizes the

need to set priorities, as all goals cannot always be fulfilled, or at least

fulfilled equally well. This person tends to be more accepting of complexities

than is the monarchic person, and recognizes the need to view problems from

a number of angles so as to set priorities correctly.

Hierarchic individuals tend to fit well into organizations because they

organize the need for priorities. However, if their priorities are different from

those of the organization, problems may arise. Then they may tend

themselves organizing their work according to their own, but not their

organization‟s priorities. The company lawyer who wants to spend too much

time on pro bono work, the university professor who wants to spend too

much time teaching, and the cook who wants each meal to be perfect but who

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takes forever in cooking the meals may soon find themselves unwelcome in

their respective organizations.

The oligarchic person is like the hierarchic person in having desire to

do more than one thing within the same time frame. But unlike hierarchic

people, oligarchic people tend to be motivated by several, often competing

goals of equal perceived importance. Often, these individuals feel pressured

in the face of competing demands on their time and other resources. They are

not always sure what to do first, or how much time to allot to each of the

tasks they need to complete. However, given even minimal guidance as to the

priorities of the organization in which they are involved, they can become as

effective or even more effective than people with other styles.

The anarchic person seems to be motivated by a potpourri of needs

and goals that can be difficult for him or her, as well as for others to sort out.

Anarchic people take what seems like a random approach to problems. They

tend to reject systems, and especially rigid ones and to fight back at whatever

system they see as confining them.

Although anarchic individuals may have trouble adapting to the

worlds of school and work, especially if the environment is a rigid one, they

often have greater potential for creative contribution than do may of the

people who find the anarchics so distasteful. Because anarchics tend to pick

up a little form here, a little from there, they often put together diverse bits of

information and ideas in a creative way. They are wide-ranging in the scope

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of things they will consider, and so may see solutions to problems that others

overlook. The problem for the teacher, parent or employer is to help the

anarchic person harness this potential for creativity, and achieve the self-

discipline and organization that are necessary for any kind of a creative

contribution. If this harnessing effort works, then the anarchic person may

end up succeeding in domains where others may fail.

Levels of Mental Self-Government

Global individuals prefer to deal with relatively large and abstract

issues. They ignore or don‟t like details, and prefer to see the forest rather

than the trees. Often, they lose sight of the trees that constitute the forest. As

a result, they have to be careful to get lost on “Cloud Nine”.

Local individuals like concrete problems requiring working with

details. They tend to be oriented toward the pragmatics of situation and are

down-to-earth. The danger is that they may lose the forest for the trees.

However, some of the worst system failure such as in aviation and rocketry,

have occurred when people have ignored what seemed at the time to be small

details. Thus, almost any team requires at least some local individuals.

Global and local people can work particularly well together, because

each attends to an aspect of task completion that the other would rather

forget. Two global people trying to complete a project may each want to deal

with the big issues, leaving no one to attend to the details; two local people

may find themselves without anyone to do the higher order initial planning

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needed to get the job done. It helps if neither individuals is so extreme that he

or she cannot understand and appreciate what the other to offer. Extreme

localists or globalists can get carried away and start to lose sight either that

the big issues exist, or that there are details that someone needs to attend to.

Scope of Mental Self-Government

Internal individuals are concerned with internal affairs- that is to say,

these individuals turn inward. They tend to be introverted, task-oriented,

aloof, and sometimes socially less aware. They like to work alone.

Essentially, their preference is to apply their intelligence to things or ideas in

isolation from other people.

An example of how teachers (or anyone else) can confuse style with

abilities is shown by the case of a kindergartner who was recommended by

her teacher for retention. When asked why she had made this

recommendation, the teacher pointed out that although the child‟s academic

work was quite good, the child did not seem “socially ready” for first grade.

That is to say, the child preferred to be on her own rather than to interact with

other children, which the teacher took as a lack of some kind of social

intelligence. In fact, the child was simply an internal. She was promoted, and

has done splendidly well both academically and in her social relations.

External individuals tend to be extroverted, outgoing and people

oriented. Often they are socially sensitive and aware of what is going on with

others. They like working with other people wherever possible.

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Many of the questions that arise in education as to “what is better?”

stem from a fundamental misunderstanding of the interaction of styles with

learning experience. For example, in recent years, there has been a strong

push toward what is called “cooperative learning” which means children

working together to learn in groups. The idea is supposed to be that children

will learn better in small working groups than they will when they are left to

their own devices.

From the standpoint of the theory of mental self-government, there is

no single right answer to questions such as whether children learn better

individually or in groups, and indeed, this question, like so many others, is

viewed as misformulated. External children will prefer working in groups

and will probably learn better when learning with others. Internal children

will prefer to work alone, and may become anxious in a group setting.

This is not to say that internal should never work in groups or

externals, alone. Obviously, each kind of individual need to develop the

flexibility to learn to work in a variety of situations. But the stylistic point of

view implies that teachers, like students, need to be flexible in the way they

approach the teaching-learning process. They need to provide children with

both individual and group settings so that children can be comfortable some

of the time and challenged the rest of the time. Always providing the same

working setting tends to benefit some students and to penalize others.

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Leanings of Mental Self-Government

The liberal individual likes to go beyond existing rules and

procedures, to maximize change and to seek situations that are somewhat

ambiguous. The individual is not necessarily “politically” liberal. A political

conservative could have a liberal style in trying to implement, say, a

Republican agenda in a new and all-encompassing way. Thrill seekers tend to

have a liberal style, as do people who, in general, quickly become bored.

The conservative individual likes to adhere to existing rules and

procedures, minimize change, avoid ambiguous situations where possible,

and stick with familiar situations in work and professional life. This

individual will be happiest in structured and relatively predictable

environment. When such structure does not exist, the individual may seek to

create it.

Characterizations and examples of various dimensions of thinking

styles in the mental self-government theory of thinking styles are given in

Table 1.

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TABLE 1

Characterizations and Examples of Dimensions of Thinking Styles

Thinking

Style

Dimension

Characterization Example

Legislative Likes to create, invent,

design, do things his or her

own way, have little assigned

structure

Likes doing science projects,

writing poetry, stories, or

music, and creating original

artworks.

Executive Likes to follow directions, do

what he or she is told, be

given structure.

Likes to solve problems,

write papers on assigned

topics, do artwork from

models, build from designs,

learn assigned information.

Judicial Likes to judge and evaluate

people and things

Likes to critique work of

others, write critical essays,

give feedback and advice

Monarchic Likes to do one thing at a

time, devoting to it almost all

energy and resources.

Likes to immerse self in a

single project, whether art,

science, history, business.

Hierarchic Likes to do many things at

once, setting priorities for

which to do when and how

much time and energy to

devote to each.

Likes to budget time for

doing homework so that

more time and energy is

devoted to important

assignments.

Oligarchic Likes to do many things at

once, but has trouble setting

priorities.

Likes to devote sufficient time

to reaching comprehension

items, so may not finish

standardized verbal-ability

tests.

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Anarchic Likes to take a random

approach to problems; dislike

systems, guidelines, and

practically all constraints.

Writes an essay in stream –

of- consciousness form; in

conversations, jumps from

one point to another; starts

things but doesn‟t finish

them.

Global Likes to deal with big picture,

generalities, abstractions.

Writes an essay on the

global message and meaning

of a work of art.

Local Likes to deal with details,

specifics, concrete examples.

Writes an essay describing

the details of a work of art

and how they interact.

Internal Likes to work alone, focus

inward, be self-sufficient.

Prefers to do science or

social studies project on his

or her own.

External Likes to work with others,

focus outward, be inter-

dependent.

Prefers to do science or

social studies project with

other members of a group.

Liberal Likes to do things in new

ways, defy conventions.

Prefers to figure out how to

operate new equipment even

if it is not the recommended

way; prefers open classroom

setting.

Conservative Likes to do things in tried

and true ways, follow

conventions.

Prefers to operate new

equipment in traditional

way; prefers traditional

classroom setting.

The theory of mental self-government proposed by Sternberg is an

attempt to integrate and extend the fragmented research results displayed in

36

various theories of styles. Stenberg‟s theory combines several mini-theories

of intellectual functioning, learning and personality. It has high potential for

generating hypotheses about the way students abilities and personality

interact in every day behaviour. For example, Sternberg hypothesized that,

the use of specific tests will favour students with certain thinking styles at the

expense of students with other styles. He predicted that multiple choice tests

would strongly favour students with executive and local styles but also those

students with internal and conservative styles. On the other hand, project

assessment would favour students who enjoy performing resource intensive

assignments. Sternberg also claimed that students with differing thinking

styles handle their limited resources in different ways. However, more

empirical work is needed on thinking styles before establishing the theory.

The present study is an attempt in this direction.

2.2 THEORETIAL OVERVIEW OF SCHOOL ADJUSTMENT

Life is a continuous process of adjustment (Tallent, 1978). Psychology

is defined as the science of human behaviour and behaviour can be better

understood if we know the process of adjustment. Adjustment is obviously an

important aspect of one‟s personality. In this sense, it is defined as the actor

process of harmonizing the personality with the demands of one‟s

environment.

Gates, (1963) say that the term adjustment refers both to a „process‟

and to a state. A person feel adjusted when his needs- physical, psychological

37

and social- are satisfied. Therefore the adjusted individual is said to be

mentally sound, who seems to be happy in every walk of life. But when the

needs are incompatible with realities, they were not satisfied and the

harmony is destroyed resulting in maladjustment of the individual. Every

individual from birth through entire lifespan, attempts to adjust to his

environment and develops his own unique way of adjustment. It is an

accepted fact that the capacity for adjustment is influenced by their physical

and mental traits.

The Dictionary of Education defines adjustment as the “Process of

finding and adopting modes of behaviour suitable to the environment or to

the changes in the environment”. It is a process by which a person changes

his behaviour to achieve a harmonious relation between himself and his

environment. As the struggle between individual needs and external forces

starts from birth, adjustment also starts from birth and continues till death.

Adjustment is the characteristic way in which one perceives, reacts and

satisfies the major needs of his life or solves the main problems of his life in

relation to his natural and social environment. It is the capacity to solve one

person‟s problems in a constructive way without disturbing the social

harmony.

Adjustment has various facets like, health, social, emotional,

occupational, school, college adjustments. A large portion of our life is spent

in school and school experiences have a lasting effect-stimulating and

38

rewarding for some and negative for others - but the influence is more deep

and divers than we realize. School adjustment is important among the various

facets of adjustment.

School is a place where students learn and develop their personality.

Today schools provide opportunity for alround development of the child.

How adequately students are adjusted to the situation determine alround

development, progress and future success of life. School Adjustment is

crucial in the future life of every person. One may have adjusted well to one

school but badly to the second. And within each school, one‟s adjustment

vary depending upon who the teacher and other students were and upon

many other factors in the classroom. If one went on to college, further

situational influences may be noted. Perhaps one may do well in a small

college near his/her home but floundered badly after transferring to a large

and more impersonal university or vice versa.

When a child is said to be making good school adjustment, it means:

i) He appears to be making satisfactory academic progress.

ii) He is able to establish satisfactory relationship with his teachers

and classmates.

iii) He appears to be making satisfactory academic progress and also

able to establish satisfactory relationship with his teachers and

classmates.

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By the first view, the student who achieves what he is expected to

achieve is considered as adjusted. The student who does not learn, who is

held back in grade or who drops out of the school before graduation fails to

meet this criteria of school adjustment. Achievement is determined by

considering the average achievement of other children of the class or grade

and child‟s adaptive or learning potential. Considering them, a brilliant child

who is doing only slightly better than average work would be making an

unsatisfactory school adjustment. A child of very limited potential might be

thought of as making satisfactory adjustment if his achievement was

commensurate with his ability.

By the second view, a child who gets along with his classmates and

his teaches is considered adjusted. A child who is unable to form satisfactory

relationships (for example, aggressive and unruly or overly shy and

withdrawing) is considered poorly adjusted.

In the third view, school adjustment is viewed as a combination of

academic achievement and social adequacy. Academic achievement and

social adequacy are mutually related. A child who is not achieving well may

have a number of personal problems. A child who has personal problem may

not achieve well also.

Stringer (1959) suggested that academic progress can be served as an

index of mental health and adjustment. He found children who start with only

a learning difficulty tend to develop other disturbances in the wake of their

40

accumulating failures in the learning task and children with some other kind

of disturbances tend to develop learning difficulties as their disturbance leads

to inattention and disorganization.

The relationship between achievement in the basic academic skills and

school adjustment often becomes gyroscopic and mutually reinforcing. Those

children who are able to be successful are rewarded and find wholesome

satisfaction in what they are doing. They are friendly to school and its values

and are encouraged to invest more of themselves in their school activities.

Conversely those who are not successful in academic activities find little

reward in them, perceive themselves negatively and are thereby unable to see

the school or its activities in any constructive manner. The school to them

becomes an unfriendly and often prosecuting institution with little

opportunity for real satisfaction.

Maladjustment is the lack of adjustment in behaviour. Maladjusted

people solve problems usually in a destructive way and in this process

disturbs social harmony. Maladjustment is aroused from frustration and

conflicts. In school, boys are regarded to be more maladjusted than girls.

Boys are likely to act out their problems than are girls and therefore boys are

more likely to be considered adjustment problems by teachers.

Information about the adjustment of pupils may be gathered from

peers, teachers or parents. But teachers, pupils and parents does not hold the

same criteria of adjustment. Further, clinicians view adjustment in their own

41

way different from parents, teachers and peers. Teachers are more concerned

about attacking or antisocial behaviour especially that which upset the

classroom. Clinicians on the other hand were more concerned about

withdrawing or asocial behaviour. Parents also hold the same view as

teachers and student‟s view on school adjustment show strong relationship

between emotional adjustment and academic success.

There are two different views about the place of adjustment in the

school curriculum. Traditionalists consider curriculum should focus on the

child‟s intellectual development and traditional areas of knowledge and skill.

They say it is difficult to define the concepts like adjustment and the energy

spent on such programmes not always proved fruitful. Some others with child

oriented and group oriented views think curriculum should focus on the

child‟s adjustment. They believe that, the child‟s present and future social

adjustment is of direct concern to the school and that should be reflected in

the curriculum.

In the past, the forces producing maladjustment have been thought to

be largely within the individual and help was sought in one-to-one treatment

programmes analogous to medical care by a physician. Later, adjustment

problems have been increasingly considered problems of interpersonal

relation. Such problems arise from the social interaction within the groups in

which the individual is involved and they are dealt within these same social

environments. Consideration of the students situations, surroundings, and

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groupings and emphasis on their individual needs improved a great deal in

the dealing of school adjustment problems of students.

There is no universal criteria for measuring adjustment. School

adjustment also vary from place to place, time to time and from institution to

institution. Factors leading to good adjustment of pupils in school are

diverse. As adjustment is important in the present and future life of every

individuals it is useful to identify the factors leading to school adjustment.

The present study on the relation of thinking styles and school adjustment of

secondary school pupils is believed to be worthwhile and relevant.

2.3 REVIEW OF RELATED STUDIES

Various studies have been conducted by researchers in the areas of

thinking styles, school adjustment and related variables. The studies

reviewed by the investigator is given here under the following heads:

1) Studies related to Thinking Styles.

2) Studies related to School Adjustment.

3) Studies related to different types of styles and adjustment.

2.3.1 Studies Related to Thinking Styles

Douglas (1991) in a study on thinking styles and the writing group,

compared business communication students‟ thinking styles with the process

and products of collaborative writing groups. It was found that students with

identical thinking styles do not naturally team up in forming groups and

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thinking style is more important than academic major in influencing group

success. It was also revealed that thinking style variety within a group is

beneficial.

Sternberg (1994) conducted a study on 85 teachers (57 males and 28

females) in four schools of widely varying types to find out the thinking

styles of teachers. It was found that schools differed in terms of thinking

styles of the teachers. Lower grade teachers were found to be more legislative

and older teachers more executive, local and conservative.

Huang and Sisco (1994) compared the thinking styles of Chinese and

American adult students in higher education in a research on the thinking

styles of 150 Chinese and American graduate students. The analysis showed

that the Chinese students scored as more pragmatic than the American group.

Chinese men and American women scored as more idealistic than the

Chinese women and American men. The study also indicated that students of

natural science and engineering preferred the analytical thinking style most

and the synthesist style least.

In 1995, Sternberg and Grigorenko conducted a study to find out the

thinking styles of students between the ages of 12 and 16. The study was

conducted on a sample of 124 students. It was revealed that socio-economic

level related negatively to the judicial, local, conservative and oligarchic

thinking styles. Later born siblings were more legislative and a significant

match between student‟s and teacher‟s thinking styles was also found.

44

To address the question whether students do better in classrooms

where their thinking styles match rather than mismatch the thinking styles of

their teachers, Sternberg et al, conducted a study in 1996. Student‟s thinking

styles and teacher‟s thinking styles were assessed and it was found that

students performed better and are more positively evaluated by teachers

when the student‟s thinking styles matched rather than mismatched the

thinking styles of the teachers.

Grigorenko et. al. (1997) conducted a study on 199 high school

students from all over United States and from South Africa. The objective

was to find out when abilities are taken into account, whether styles still

predict academic achievement. It was concluded that thinking styles add

significantly to abilities in predicting school achievement.

In 2000, Fang examined the relationship between teaching approaches

and thinking styles in teaching. Seventy-six in-service teachers from

Hongkong responded to the Approaches to Teaching Inventory (Trigwell and

Prosser, 1996) and Thinking Styles Inventory in Teaching (Grigorenko and

Sternberg, 1993). It was concluded that teaching approaches and thinking

styles are two overlapping constructs.

Ross (2001), in an experimental study using slide viewing technique

developed by Buck et al, examined the relationship between thinking styles

and nonverbal sending and receiving ability. Participant‟s extraversion and

rational and experimental thinking styles were measured and they did not

relate to the encoding and decoding of spontaneous communication displays.

45

Nachmias and Shany in 2002, examined students learning in virtual

courses and the relationship between their performance and thinking styles.

Participants were 110 eighth and ninth graders who were enrolled in a three-

month virtual course on the retrieval and use of on-line information. The

findings showed that learners with liberal or internal thinking styles

outperformed the other students in the course.

Zhang (2002) investigated the relationship between thinking styles

and academic performance and modes of thinking among U.S. university

students. According to the study, the more creativity-generating and more

complex thinking styles were significantly related to holistic mode of

thinking, and the more norm-conforming and more simplistic thinking styles

are significantly related to an analytic mode of thinking.

Yeh, in 2002, conducted a study on preservice teachers‟ thinking

styles, dispositions and changes in their teacher behaviour. The study was

aimed to investigate the relationship between pre-service teachers‟ critical

thinking dispositions and three thinking styles (judicial, legislative and

executive) and their behaviour change in computer simulation. 178 preservice

teachers participated in the study. Findings suggested that preservice teachers

with a high level of critical-thinking dispositions and those with judicial or

legislative thinking styles are analytical and reflective vis-à-vis their teaching

practice, where as those with executive styles did not exhibit significant

behaviour change at the end of the simulated teaching.

46

Zhang (2002) investigated the relationship of thinking styles to modes

of thinking. Participants were 371 freshmen (aged 18 and 19) from the

University of Hong Kong. Thinking style inventory by Sternberg and

Wagner was administered on the sample. Major finding was that creativity

generating and complex thinking styles were significantly positively

correlated with the holistic mode of thinking but significantly negatively

correlated with the analytic mode of thinking.

Park et. al (2005) investigated the thinking styles of Korean gifted

students in Korea and examined whether thinking styles based on the theory

of mental self-government could predict scientific giftedness based on

Korean people‟s implicit concepts. Participants were 179 students from two

science high schools and 176 students from general high schools in Korea.

Thinking Styles Inventory (Sternberg and Wagnor, 1992) and Scientific

Giftedness Inventory (Shim and Kim, 2003) were administered. Korean

gifted students preferred legislative, judicial, anarchic, global, external, and

liberal styles whereas Korean non gifted students preferred executive

oligarchic and conservative styles. Thinking Styles were also found to be

significant predictors of scientific giftedness.

Novak and Hoftman in three comprehensive studies (2005) developed

and cross validated a new instrument for measuring experimental and rational

task specific thinking style. The study established congruence effects between

task-specific thinking style and the nature of the task on performance

47

outcomes. It showed that task-specific thinking style explains greater

variance than dispositional thinking style in predicting performance.

Wang et al. conducted a study on using agents and simulation to

develop adequate thinking styles in 2005. The investigators looked at human-

environmental interaction using internet mediated simulations as learners in

their efforts to develop thinking styles. One hundred and forty-nine

vocational high school students participated in this study. It was revealed that

it is possible to establish and support thinking styles via internet-mediated

simulations. More development was observed for judicial thinking style in

this system.

Echendu (2006) studied the thinking styles and cognitive preferences

of technical knowledge of workers in the system of innovation paradigm. The

sample compared 330 engineering, science and technology oriented

professionals in supervisory and middle to senior management positions in

South Africa. The study provided a ranking of preferred thinking styles for

engineering and technology management in the new paradigm. Logical,

problem solving, conceptualizing, analyzing and interpersonal thinking styles

were ranked in the top five.

Mc Coy et al. (2006) examined the relation of self reported criminal-

thinking styles and self reported illegal behaviour among college students.

Participants were 177 male and 216 female undergraduate students. Results

indicated that males who committed violent crimes against pupil endorsed

48

significantly higher levels of distorted criminal-thinking patterns. Female

participants who committed property crimes significantly elevated six of the

criminal thinking style scales.

In a study on the thinking styles of online distance education students,

Richmond et al. (2006) evaluated the thinking styles of 160 undergraduate

students from three universities enrolled in online distance education courses.

Sternberg-Wagner Thinking Style Inventory (1997) was administered and the

results indicated a disproportionate number of legislative and hierarchic

thinkers in online distance education courses.

Albaili (2007) examined the differences in thinking styles among low-,

average-, and high- achieving United Arab Emirate College students.

Thinking Styles Inventory was used to assess students‟ thinking styles.

Results indicated that low-achieving students scored significantly lower on

executive, hierarchic, anarchic, local, conservative, and internal styles. Low-

achieving students scored significantly higher on legislative, oligarchic and

liberal styles. A discriminant analysis revealed that executive and conservative

styles were the most discriminating factors that separated low-achieving

students from their high-achieving peers.

Vance et al. (2007) conducted on study on understanding and

measuring linear-nonlinear thinking style for enhanced management

education and professional practice. It was found that most people tend

towards one or other extremes of linear or non linear styles. It was also found

49

that people using either of the dominant thinking styles benefit from

interaction with people of the other inclination.

Sladek et al. (2008) conducted a study on thinking styles and doctors‟

knowledge and behaviours relating to acute coronary syndromes guidelines.

The relationship between thinking styles and the knowledge and clinical

practices on a sample of 74 doctors involved directly in the management of

acute coronary syndromes in Australia was investigated in the study. Self

reported doctor‟s thinking styles and surveys were used Results suggested

that guideline-discordant practice was associated with an experimental style

of thinking.

Empirical studies are a few in the area of thinking styles. The few

studies conducted by some research teams were not followed and investigated

world wide later. More attention and studies in the area of thinking styles is

needed.

2.3.2 Studies Related to School Adjustment

Sharma (1982) conducted a study on the adjustment and backwardness

of high school students. The study established boys and girls do not differ

significantly on adjustment scores. Backward and non backward students

who were average over other independent factors differed significantly from

each other on overall adjustment scores and adjustment of non backward, low

and middle creative students at different levels of SES contributed to making

the interaction significant.

50

A study was conducted with normative survey design on a sample of

603 prospective teachers drawn from seven teacher training institutes of

Varanasi by Rai in 1983. It revealed that the relationship between self

concept, adjustment and intelligence was positive and significant.

In 1983 Mehta conducted a study on 50 obedient and disobedient

students sorted out on the basis of ratings of the teachers according to the

criteria of obedience and disobediency. Critical ratios between total

adjustment of obedient and disobedient students was found to be significant

at 0.01 level, but insignificant differences existed between different areas of

adjustment that is home, health, emotional, social and college/ school

respectively of the two groups of subjects.

Nair investigated the role of different areas of adjustment in

underachievement in Biology of the secondary school students in 1984. After

comparing the mean scores of over achievers, normal achievers and

underachievers in the attitudinal and adjustment variables, it was concluded

that home adjustment, social adjustment and emotional adjustment are

influencing the achievement.

The study of Valsamma in 1984 showed that high mean scores of

personal, social and general adjustment variables were associated with

underachievers than normal and non underachievers in Biology.

Misra et. al. (1985) conducted a study on 100 students studying in

class X both male and female belonging to urban areas which revealed that

51

positive self concept leads to high adjustment and negative self concept to

poor adjustment and also showed that the specific model of self concept is

more useful in adjustment process.

In 1985, Rajput conducted a study on values, dependency and

academic adjustment of students. The sample size was chosen to be 42 for

each of six groups (boys and girls in each faculty-arts, commerce and

science). The entire sample was selected from the higher secondary schools

of Mandvi, Bhuj and Gandhidam districts. It was found that academic

adjustment was not meaningfully related to academic achievement.

Personality traits, values, self concept, mental make up and adjustment

of normal and physically handicapped children were studied by Bala in 1985.

sample of the study consists 1000 students with the age range of 12-18 from

Haryana State. It was found that handicapped children differed significantly

from the normal children in adjustment.

Sami (1986) studied the relationship between creativity, self

awareness and self adjustment of university students. Study revealed the

relationship between high creativity and high self adjustment was positive

and moderately significant and between low creativity and low self

adjustment was positive and very significant.

A study of self concept of high school students at different levels of

adjustment and SES was conducted by Gupta in 1986. It was revealed that

highly adjusted person having better, stable and integrated self concept than

the low adjusted subjects.

52

In 1986, Singh selected a sample from the office of the Board of

Secondary Education, Orissa, Cuttack the size of the student sub-population

of Class XIth

each of three zones; central, western and southern was obtained.

The study concluded that achievement in mathematics was not related with

adjustment.

An investigation was carried out to find the relationship between

intelligence, SES, anxiety, personality, adjustment and academic

achievement by Mehortra in 1986. The sample of the study consisted of 535

class X students and the tool used was Saxena‟s Adjustment Inventory. The

study revealed that there was positive relation between level of adjustment

and academic achievement.

Singh selected 166 students (boys) of scheduled castes as the sample

in 1987 and reported that the first generation learners had more problems in

comparison to subsequent generation learners in the areas related to

adjustment to school work.

Ushasree (1990) conducted a study with a sample consisted of 200

pupils studying in Xth

class pupils identified with behaviour problems and

100 pupils without behaviour problems. She found that high scorers on

adjustment were found to achieve high. Also, vice versa was not found to be

true. She also implied that academic achievement was not the only factor that

determines high scholastic achievement and it is a pre-requisite for scholastic

achievement.

53

Arnold and Atkins conducted a study about the emotional adjustment

of children in 1991. Hearing impaired children integrated during in primary

schools were the subjects. It was concluded that students faced social

problems than emotional problems.

Reynolds (1991) in a study examined the factors contributing to the

early school adjustment of children at risk of school failure from pre school

enrollment to fourth grade. A longitudinal model was used on a sample of

1,255 low-income minority children. Results indicated that children‟s school

achievement from kindergarten to fourth grade was marked by declining

achievement, frequent moves from one school to another and increasing

grade retention.

In 1993 Bindu conducted a study on a sample of 645 students

including hearing impaired and normal. Self concept, social adjustment,

personal adjustment and socio-personal adjustment of the subjects were

measured. The study indicated significant differences in the mean scores of

various adjustment for the total sample and relevant sub samples.

Personality and adjustment as correlates of burnout among the

secondary school teachers of Kerala was analyzed by Haridasan in 1993.

Sample for the study consists of 500 secondary school teachers selected from

various districts of Kerala. Correlation analysis of personality and adjustment

with total burnout showed that significant correlation exist in the personality

factors and some adjustment factors and total adjustment.

54

Carol (1996) examined the social adjustment of deaf adolescents

enrolled in segregated, partially integrated and mainstreamed settings.

Partially integrated students reported better adjustment than mainstreamed

students with deaf peers; mainstreamed students reported better adjustment

than partially integrated hearing peers; segregated students showed the

lowest levels of adjustment over all.

A comparative study was conducted by Kantroo (1997) to analyze the

social and personal adjustments of high, average and low creative pre-degree

students of Dakshina Kannada District. Sample for the study consists of 1060

pre-degree students of 18 government and non-government colleges in

Dakshina Kannada District. The mean scores of the high creative, average

creative and low creative pre-degree students in the personal adjustment

variables were compared and it was found that many of the variables were

discriminating between the different creativity levels.

Israelashvili (1997) conducted two studies on how students school

adjustment and sense of school membership relates to their future

expectations. Measures of future expectations, school membership and

school adjustment were administered to a random sample of 307 5th

-12th

grade students (male and female) in the first study and 164 female students in

the second studies support the conclusions that students school experiences,

particularly with peers shape their future expectations.

Jyothi and Reddy (1999) analyzed the personality factors, adjustment

and self-ideal discrepancy of 230 deaf students belonging to 14 to 20 age

55

group. Results revealed that there are no significant difference in personality,

adjustment and self ideal discrepancy between the sub samples.

In 1999 Choi, et al. surveyed the depression of adolescents and

studied its relationship with school adjustment. The study was conducted on

a sample of 572 students in a coed high school in Incheon. The results

revealed that the relationship between depression tendency and school

adjustment was statistically significant (P<0.001). The relationship between

depression tendency and school life related adjustment, school environment

related adjustment, school environment related adjustment, school friend

related adjustment, school teacher related adjustment and school instruction

related adjustment were statistically significant.

Mathur (1999) conducted a study on the social and academic school

adjustment during early elementary school. Participants were 186 children

and 11 teachers in second grade and 188 children and 11 teachers in third

grade. Data were drawn from teacher ratings, child interviews and parent

questionnaires. It was found that school adjustment is compared of both

social adjustment and academic adjustment. Results suggested that school

adjustment in third grade is multi dimensional and transactional in nature.

Bhattacharya (2000) examined the school adjustment process among

South Asian children who had immigrated to the United States with their

parents. Data were collected from 75 parents and 75 children in separate semi

structured interviews. It was concluded that parental encouragement to

56

succeed in conjunction with teachers‟ efforts, can be used to facilitate

children‟s school adjustment.

Yadav (2000) conducted a study on socio-emotional school climate in

relation to adjustment among 32 visually impaired and 32 sighted students.

Sinha and Bargava Socio-Emotional School Climate Inventory and Asthanas

Adjustment Inventory were administered on the sample. It was revealed that

visually impaired had more favourable perception of their socio-emotional

school climate and also showed better adjustment to school climate as

compared to sighted students.

In 2002, Peixoto and Mata studied the participation in extracurricular

activities and school adjustment among the 955 adolescents attended the 7th

,

9th

and 11th

grades in Portuguese school system. Results revealed major

effects for the participation in extracurricular activities on some dimensions

of school adjustment. Under achievers are found to be more benefited from

these participation than others.

Zhou et al. in 2003 compared the school adjustment of first-generation

Chinese-American adolescent with that mainland Chinese and European

American adolescents. Perry and Weinstein‟s conceptual model of school

adjustment was used for the study. Results indicated that Chinese-American

adolescents reported more negative attitude towards teachers than European,

American and mainland Chinese students.

57

Zettergren (2003) investigated the school adjustment in adolescence

for previously rejected, average and popular children. Ninety age 15 boys

and girls who at age 10 and 11 were sociometrically rejected, popular, or of

average popular, or of average popularity constituted the sample. The results

show that the rejected children are at risk group for school problems also

over a long period of time. Chances of future adulthood adjustment problems

for the peer-rejected children are high than others.

In a comparative study of normal and hearing impaired secondary

school pupils in the integrated system of education, Usha (2003) studied the

school adjustment, self-concept and mathematics achievement in a sample of

700 secondary school pupils in Kerala. It was found that percentages of

normal pupils experiencing better adjustment group is higher than the

percentage of hearing impaired having better adjustment. The percentage of

hearing impaired pupils experiencing poor adjustment group was found to be

higher than the percentage of normal pupils having poor adjustment.

In a two year longitudinal study (N=242), Wentzel et al. (2004)

examined relations of having a reciprocated friend and characteristics of a

reciprocated friend to students‟ social and academic adjustment to middle

school. With respect to having a friend, 6th

grade students without friends

showed lower levels of prosocial behaviour, academic achievement, and

emotional distress than did students with reciprocated friendships.

58

Cheung et al. (2005) compared 21 university students admitted by

high school recommendations with 29 classmates admitted by traditional

means with respect to various dimensions of adjustment. It revealed no

significant effect due to non traditional admissions on the students

adjustment in academic, social and personal-emotional aspects.

Peixoto (2005) studied the parental attitude towards academic

achievement and academic adjustment in adolescence. Participants were 756

students attending 7th

, 9th

and 12th

grades. A positive association was found

between process centred attitudes and academic self-concept and self-esteem,

performance centred attitudes were negatively correlated with academic self-

concept, self-esteem and academic achievement.

A study of the relationship among locus of control, well-being,

emotional intelligence and life adjustment of the elementary school students

was conducted by Lee in 2005. The study utilized questionnaire and fourth

and sixth grade students in Kaohsiung and Tainan consisted the sample. It

was found that girls‟ school adjustment and interpersonal adjustment was

better than the boys. School Adjustment of fourth grade students were found

to be better than that of sixth grade students.

Maatta et al. (2007) conducted a longitudinal study on achievement

orientations, school adjustment and well-being. The participants were 734

Swedish adolescents (335 boys and 399 girls). The results showed that a

decrease in depressive symptoms and an increase in engagement with school

59

predicted a more to the use of optimistic and defensive-pessimistic groups

whereas a reverse pattern predicted a more to the helplessness and self-

handicapping groups.

Patwardhan and Vanitas studied about the adjustment of Indian girls

in relation to menstruation in 2007. Sample of 100 ninth grade girls from

girls‟ school and from co-education school were included. Data were

collected using Personal Information Schedule, Adjustment Inventory and

Menstrual Attitude Questionnaire (MAQ). In general, girls were found to be

properly adjusted and exhibited fairly positive attitude towards menstruation.

Girls from two types of schools exhibited similar adjustment.

In 2007, Coplan studied the socio emotional characteristics and school

adjustment of socially withdrawn children in Indian schools. Participants

were 929 elementary school-aged children in New Delhi and teachers rated

child social and academic achievement at school. The results indicated that

compared with their average counterparts, socially withdrawn children

reported greater loneliness and depressive symptoms were rated by teachers

as more anxious and were more likely to be rejected by peers.

Yu and Minggui investigated the relationship between five dimensions

of perceived school climate and school adjustment for middle school students

in 2007. specific relations have been found between different dimensions of

perceived school climate and school adjustment. Gender effect between

perceived school climate and adjustment exists, especially in teacher student

60

relationships, academic pressure and adjustment. The influences of perceived

school climate on school adjustment is by direct or indirect method, in which

school attitude play mediator effect for some relations.

Dinhigra et al. (2007) conducted a study of certain selected variables

related to selected hearing impaired children. Fifteen hearing impaired

children in the age group of 10-17, their parents, siblings and teachers

comprised the sample. It was revealed that 54% of the children were

moderately adjusted, 33% of the children negatively adjusted and the

remaining 13% in between the two groups.

Hines (2007) investigated the differences between adolescent boys

and girls from divorced families adjustment to the middle school transition.

The findings showed that girls from divorced families were more adjusted to

the academic and social characteristics of the middle school transition than

were boys from divorced families. Girls from divorced families were less

adjusted to making friends than were boys from divorced families.

Chen and Li (2007) in a study, examined the contributions of

depressed mood to social and school adjustment in Chinese children. It was

found that depressed mood was stable over the two year duration of the

longitudinal study and the depression contributed negatively to later social

and school achievement and positively to the development of adjustment

difficulties.

Flook and Fuligni (2007) examined the implications of stress in

adolescent‟s daily lives, and looked at the spill over between daily family

61

stressors and school problems among an ethically diverse group of 589 9th

grade students in Los Angeles area. The study found that teenagers who

experienced family stress had school adjustment problems not only the next

day, but two days later.

2.3.3 Studies Related to Different Types of Styles and Adjustment

Franz and Dembo (1984) conducted a study on the relationship of

stress in teacher‟s work environment to teachers level of cognitive

complexity and their career maturity. A total number of 112 teachers and

student teachers participated in the study. Paragraph completion test, Crites

career maturity inventory, work life inventory, were administered. It was

revealed that stress in the work environment of urban elementary school

teachers is associated with their cognitive complexity.

Cognitive resources in 165 non demented older adults with the age 60-

100 were estimated in a study conducted by Poon et al in 1992. Five clusters

of results were found concerning age differences, the role of every day

experiences, influence of physical and mental health on cognitive performance,

personality and cognitive factors and levels of intelligence affect. It was

concluded that cognitive resources were important contributors to successful

adaptation for oldest-old.

Gelade (1995) conducted an investigation on creative style and

divergent production of adults in which the cognitive style, creative thinking

and adjustment to environment were studied. One hundred and fifty six

62

adults completed the Kirton Adaptation-Innovation Inventory as well as

Guilford‟s Consequences and Alternate Uses Tests. Compared to the

adaptors, innovators produced a higher number of uncommon responses on

the consequences test and produced more responses on the Alternate Uses

Test.

Learning styles and adjustment issues of 35 international students in a

business administration programme were analyzed in a study conducted by

Ladd and Ruby (1999). The study revealed most desired warm personal

relationships with instructors and the primary learning modes in their home

countries was lecture. It was also found that most of them preferred direct

contract with materials and a majority were classified as neutral learners on

the Canfield Learning Styles Inventory.

In a study conducted by Heng (2000) to measure the role of practical

intelligence in intellectual giftedness, cognitive style and adjustment to

environment of the VIIIth

- grades were assessed. Sample consisted 296 gifted

and mainstream students from Singapore. It was revealed that regardless of

academic ability, children high in practical intelligence displayed a

heightened sense of self and keener awareness of the hidden curriculum and

larger goals of the school.

Perry et. al (2001) conducted a longitudinal field study on college

students in which cognitive style, emotional adjustment, and students

adjustment were some variables among others. Two measures, perceived

academic control and action control were administered to college students.

63

High-control, high-failure-preoccupied students out performed the other

groups by one to two letter grades.

The study on achievement strategies in school, its types and correlates

conducted by Matta et al. (2002) explores the cognitive styles and students

adjustment of an unselected sample of Swedish adolescents. Six groups of

adolescents were identified according to the strategies they developed.

Results showed that membership in functional strategy groups was associated

with well being, school adjustment and achievement and low levels of norms

breaking behaviour.

CONCLUSION

Review of related studies showed that many investigations have been

conducted in the related areas. Adjustment, achievement and other academic

problems have been analyzed on the basis of intelligence, creativity,

personality, cognitive style etc. But it was found that no attempt was made to

analyze them on the basis of a construct like Thinking Styles. Most of the

earlier studies related to styles were limited to separate dimensions of

cognitive styles, learning styles and personality styles. It was found that it is

a need to view styles in totality. Further, no studies are conducted in India to

measure the Thinking Styles of secondary school pupils. So the investigator

feels that the study to analyse the Thinking Styles of secondary school pupils

in Kerala and to find out the influence of different styles on School

Adjustment will be a relevant one.